Front Three Nosebonks with Aaron Biitner

Learn how to bonk nose from one of the sport’s foremost stylists, Aaron Bittner

Bittner knows how to bonk nose. But you can bet your sweet sniffer he didn’t learn how tap tip on double-overhead barrels like this one. He started small—as should you—tapping little lumps of snow, random rocks, and unsuspecting stumps. So first, take the tap to the mini-shred, then once you feel confident employing this onomatopoeia on the regular, make a pilgrimage to Park City and put your own spin on the 360 nose bonk.—L.G.

1. First off, you want to make sure you can do frontside threes on jumps that don’t have gigantic barrels protruding from the deck. Try ’em on a small jump, and in mid-spin pretend as if you’re bonking an invisible barrel, then work your way up to something like this Park City monolith.

2. After you’ve got front threes on lock, approach whatever it is you’re going to bonk with enough speed to clear the feature. Try to float a couple spins up and over without putting a bonk down.

3. Approach said bonk from the left if you’re goofy and from the right if you ride regs. You want to pop off your heels for this trick and pop hard so you’ll easily clear whatever it is you’re bonking. Start your rotation, and at about 180, drop the very tip of your board’s nose to bonk. Be careful not to get too aggressive with your bonk because that will throw off your rotation and momentum. Just tap it.

4. Now continue spinning your three. You want to concentrate on rotating a smooth three rather than breaking the trick up into two separate 180s. Keep your knees good and sucked up and close to your chest. This’ll give you more time to spot your landing and make the trick look oh-so-steezy.